When I Knew
by Blonde Panther
Summary: Post-FE3 and pre-FE1. "While the maid helped her put on a frilly dress, she decided that she would hate the boy. He'd ruined her day and he would know it." Circumstances provoke Shiida into remembering her first meeting with Marth. Rated because of said circumstances. Uses European spelling.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Fire Emblem or its characters.

**Characters:** Marth, Shiida.

**Pairings:** Marth/Shiida.

**Warnings:** Children probably shouldn't ask too many questions regarding the situation present!Marth and Shiida are in.

_**Author's Notes:**__ I get the most random ideas from time to time. Either that, or I just wanted an excuse to write 'mini lords' as my friend called them. Younger versions of main characters are always loved by the audience… right?_

_On another note, I believe this is the first time I've written actual, living, non-Einherjar Marth. In fangirl circles we call this 'unreal restraint.'_

* * *

She smiled to herself as she gently pressed her face to his bare chest, her arms wrapped tightly around him. It was warm, and the sweat from consummating their marriage had not yet evaporated from either of them. Marth had fallen asleep soon after the act, but Shiida was still too excited to. For now, she was content to lay there with him.

When she shifted, she felt his hand on her back, stroking along her spine towards her neck. Gasping, she looked up to see her lover –no, her husband, she corrected herself- looking up at her. "Hey," he said, smiling.

"Hey," Shiida replied, blushing. It was so awkward. After what had already happened, here they were saying 'hi' to each other. "I'm sorry… did I wake you?"

"No, it's fine." He shifted a little so they could both lay down comfortably, despite Shiida being unwilling to rest anywhere but on his chest. "I'm finding it hard to sleep anyway." For a few seconds, the two lay in perfect silence, Marth slowly running a hand through his newlywed wife's hair. "Say, Shiida…" he suddenly muttered, only loudly enough for her to hear. When he saw her look at his face, he continued. "Can I ask you a… very stupid question?"

"Of course… anything." She found his free hand, weaving her fingers through his.

"In your vows, you said that you'd known for years that you wanted to be my wife." Shiida blushed. He'd taken note of that? It had sounded a lot better on paper than it had when she had said it out loud to him, in front of several hundreds of their subjects and peers. "…for how long have you known? Or, well, when did you first realize?"

If at all possible, she blushed a little more deeply and she shut her eyes, thinking and remembering.

* * *

She had been dragged away from the newborn Pegasus Apollo to bathe and put on a proper dress for formal occasions, much to her dismay. She hadn't been able to tell the maid off because it hadn't been a maid that had come to fetch her, but her own father, the king of Talys. When she had asked him why she had to come, he told her he was expecting special guests, a delegation from Altea with news from the mainland.

Shiida had been pouty throughout her entire bath. That sounded like stuff her father had to worry about, not her. Why was this time different? Was it because the prince of Altea was her age? Did her father think he'd make a good playmate for her? She meant, how old did he think she was? While the maid helped her put on a frilly dress, she decided that she would hate the boy. He'd ruined her day and he would know it.

She didn't get a chance to run (not that she could run very fast in this dress), and was taken down to the throne room, where her father gestured for her to sit down next to him. Oh. That made sense. Her mother was still sick and couldn't be here, and her father didn't want an empty throne beside his own. Shiida still hated the kid as she sat down next to her father, crossing her arms.

"Shiida, please try to look a little less angry," her father said. "You can play with Apollo later. For now, I need you to welcome our guests." She shot him a pout, but then uncrossed her arms, putting them on her legs (the armrests of her mother's throne were way too high for her) and forcing her face into a more neutral expression. If nothing else, she was learning to act happy in court.

When the doors to the throne room opened and a few men in various amounts of armor started pouring in, Shiida forced her face further into a smile. Something was different, though. She had been present once before when her father had met with King Cor… cor… something. King Corny? That was probably not what the man was called, but it would do. She could never remember. Had the mood been this depressing, this gloomy during that meeting as well?

She woke up from her memories when the doors of the throne room slammed shut, and she looked over the people in the throne room. Huh… King Corny wasn't there. Most of the men stood back a little in a line, their arms behind their backs and their heads bowed slightly. Only one of them had stepped forward… Shiida blinked and successfully kept herself from rubbing her eyes in disbelief.

The man in front of the rest, with the light armor, the sword at his side, and a face that screamed 'I'm about to cry but I don't want to and I can't afford to…' he was the same age as her. And yet, he looked so much older. Not because he was tall and strong, because he wasn't. He looked almost as girly as Shiida herself did. (But Shiida WAS a girl, she was allowed to look girly.) Was it the armor and the sword that made him look older? Or was it something in his stance and his face?

"Your Majesty," the boy said, causing Shiida to jolt. She realized he was younger than he looked, but she hadn't expected his voice to be that shaky and high-pitched. "I am Prince Marth of Altea." He swallowed and shut his eyes, and Shiida spied that one of the men behind him, the oldest-looking one with the spiky armor, glanced at him. "I came to inform you that Altea has fallen along with King Cornelius." For the second time, he swallowed and shut his eyes, but this time he also made two fists at his sides.

She was amazed and completely forgot her resolution to hate him for ruining her day. How could she hate him? He just stood there, on his own, all proper and formal, when clearly all he wanted to do was cry. He needed well over a minute to regain his composure enough to finish. "My men and I seek asylum in your kingdom as… exiles." Inhaling deeply, he then looked straight at her father.

Shiida's heart was beating so hard by now it was painful. She looked sideways at her father, and when he didn't reply immediately she wanted to jump up and shake him by the collar, screaming at him that he had to say something, that he had to let Marth and the other men into the kingdom because look at him!

When her father remained silent for way too long, Shiida decided that if he was being difficult, she could be difficult too, and she scooted to the front of the throne, jumping off and straightening her skirt. "You need a bath," she said, pointing at Marth, who looked at her in confusion. "And a bed. Come on, you can have mine." She then walked down the steps that separated the thrones from the rest of the room, approached him and reached out to grab his arm so she could drag him out of the room.

She didn't really care about the grownups, she just wanted Marth to not look so old and so sad anymore. She was interrupted, though, by her father's coming voice. "That will be enough, Shiida. Prince Marth, you will be given asylum, and so will your men. However, I must ask you to give me all the details you know."

"But not right now!" Shiida exclaimed, "Daddy, look at him! He NEEDS a bath!" She was ready for a stalemate with her father, which she would lose as always, when the old, spiky-armored man from before cleared his throat and took one step forward.

"Your Majesty," he said, a lot less shaky than Marth, "I have more information than His Highness does. It may not be my place, but I would tell you everything you wish to know while the prince bathes."

She had won. "Very well, then. Shiida, I leave Prince Marth to you."

"Yes, daddy!" she said, beaming, and grabbed on to Marth's hand, dragging him out of the throne room past the men who had been standing behind him.

Once out in the hallway, she enthusiastically pointed in the vague direction of the bathroom she'd used not even an hour ago. "We'll get Clarence to get you all cleaned up," she said, "And get you out of that armor." She realized only now that Marth was a little taller than her, by maybe an inch or so.

He looked down at her and smiled, squeezing her hand. "Princess… Shiida, was it?" he said, and she thought she finally saw tears coming to his eyes. "Thank you." Shiida was speechless and could only really look at him, having lost her train of thought and failing to shut her mouth.

He had the cutest smile.

* * *

"Shiida?" she realized she had been silent for a long time when Marth squeezed her hand. "Are you okay?"

"O-oh…" realizing where she was and who she was with, she blushed again, looking at him once more. She let go of his hand and pushed against the matress to get her face level with his so she could kiss him. "I'm sorry. I was… absent."

"As long as you're okay," he said, smiling. "So… for what I asked…"

She shook her head. It was so embarrassing. At the time marrying her had been the LAST thing on his mind, of course, and really, if she was honest it had been a childish folly on her part that had simply lasted until she was mature enough to actually love.

"I don't remember," she lied.

* * *

_**Additional Author's Notes:**__ …you'd be surprised how hard it is to write kids of a certain age. I'm afraid they're either too mature or too childish. Admittedly being too mature isn't as much of a problem with young!Marth, but Shiida was a bit of a challenge here._


End file.
